Distillation Quotes

“In Greek mythology, the goddess Iris sped messages to the gods on the rainbow's arc. Her flower bears no perfume, but steam distillation of the root, or rhizome, yields orris, a precious essence that smells of candle wax, but its impression in perfume is powdery, silvery green, violet-like- a prize of the perfumer's palette. How I wish I could summon the goddess to carry my message to those I love. -DB”
― Jan Moran, Scent of Triumph

“Once he left the Haywood out for her with a page number on a scrap of paper, and she opened the book to recipes for "Distillation." Jess laughed at the page George had found for her. There, between instructions to make rose water and clove water, were instructions "to make jessamine water: Take eight ounces of the jessamine flowers, clean picked from their stalks, three quarts of spirit of wine, and two quarts of water: put the whole into an alembic, and draw off three quarts. Then take a pound of sugar dissolved in two quarts of water, and mix it with the distilled liquor." George left no comment on the recipe, but she read, and read it over, aware that he was thinking of her.”
― Allegra Goodman, The Cookbook Collector

“water distils through
quiet city lanes”
― Sneha Subramanian Kanta

“When we understand energy clearly, we'll know how our actions or inactions affect the larger flow of events. We become regenerative and resilient when others are too vulnerable to withstand. This skillfully clears the air of general tension, denial, or game-playing. By doing so, we can clear the collective conscience, help to break old patterns and make a difference in the larger flow of events.”
― Shreya Mandal

“This was the hand of the fairy who had brought the magic of perfume into our world. Into the Rosebourne bloodline.
To capture the scent of the violet flower, I read, gather the following...
Of course— of course. Setting aside magic, the allure of the Rosebourne perfumes for today's society came principally from William Rosebourne's vision of layered scents, the balance and interplay of musk and flowers and fruit achieved by no other perfumery. He'd understood, long before his peers, the experience of perfume also included the aesthetic of its vessel— that he could convey a story through it, make it desirable and collectible, rather than force his customers to buy their perfume in simple apothecary bottles and transfer them to flasks at home.
But what the House of Rosebourne had originally been known for was its ability to capture the scent of mute flowers. Those delicate lovelies like violets, lilacs, and lilies of the valley that either refused to give up their natural scents or were too delicate to go through the extraction process necessary to distill them into oil.
I'd always thought that, perhaps, the Rosebournes had used magic to extract those fragrances, but no— if this precise formulation was any indication, they did what other perfumers attempted to do: re-create the scent of one flower using a precise blend of others. Fascinating.”
― Alexandra Bracken, Immortal Rose